Reading The lightning Thief
by midnightfire98
Summary: Percy and the gang are sent back in time to read about Percy's adventures with the gods.
1. Chapter 1

Percy, Anabeth, Thalia, Grover, Katie Gardner, Conner and Travis Stoll, (Wonderful last name for sons of Hermes) and Nico all sat in the back of the Camp Half-Blood van. They had all been summoned to Mount Olympus for a very important meeting apparently. Chiron was up front in a specially designed seat for his wheelchair. Argus sat in the driver's seat. They all arrived at the Empire State Building and, in the most annoying way possible the all piled out of the bus and into the building. Only Percy, Annabeth, and Katie didn't immediately rush out of the van. Katie because she was asleep and Percy and Annabeth, well they were a bit, um preoccupied. (Not in a perverted way)

Katie woke up when the van turned off. She rubbed her eyes and looked over at Percy and Annabeth and groaned. "Get a room you guys!"

Percy stopped making out with Annabeth and looked over at Katie "We have one, your just in it. Now come on it's time to go." He grabbed Annabeths hand and pulled her out of the van. Katie just shook her head and followed after them.

They all walked over to the man at the desk. Percy waved cheerfully at him and the guy barely looked up before tossing the key over the mass of kids who were arguing with him if there was a 600th floor or not. Percy caught it with one hand and got everybody to the elevator. Once everybody was in, Chiron and Argus had not been invited so it was just the demigods, Percy inserted the key and selected the 600th floor. They zoomed up the Empire State Building. The elevators dinged and they all stepped out into Olympus.

They all began to walk towards the throne room. When they got there they were surprised to see not only the twelve major gods there but also the three fates were sitting in the corner, knitting furiously.

Zeus was the first to acknowledge them "Welcome heroes! We have asked you here to partake in a dangerous quest that will affect the entire world greatly. We have made an agreement with the fates to send you back in time." He let that sink in for a moment before continuing. "We have decided that the events that led up to the Second Titan War were unacceptable so we have bargained with the muses to write five myths. Specifically your myths Perseus. You will go back and read these myths with our past selves and convince them to change their ways." At this he motioned for the fates to come forward.

The circled the demigods slowly and began chanting in a language that was far older then ancient Greek most in the room could speak. Lights began to swirl from their old hands and encircle the demigods faster and faster spinning and twisting and dancing. Scenes began to run across the stream of lights. Hercules killing the Nemean Lion. Percy helping Zoe do the same thing. The final battle between Zeus and Kronos and the final battle between Percy and Kronos. And dozens of others. The demigods felt themselves lift up off the ground and then they felt as if they were being stretched through a very thin tube all at the same time. With a final flash of light the room was vacated of any demigods. The gods were left sitting there hoping that they would succeed.

Approximately 9 years ago

There was a bright flash of light in the throne room of Olympus and in its wake stood seven half-bloods. The gods were at this time having a "meeting" and by meeting I mean Hera and Zeus were fighting over why Zeus wasn't loyal to her. Apollo and Artemis were arguing over who was better at archery the huntresses or Apollo's kids. Ares and Aphrodite were making out. Hephaestus was tinkering with some new device of his. Hades was just looking bored and being thankful that if this was all that happened during meetings that he was only invited to one a year. Poseidon was kneeling next to Hestia and talking with her. Zeus was the first one to notice the demigods. He stared in shock for a moment at the demigods. One had blonde hair and shocking grey eyes. Three of them had dark black hair one of them had blue eyes one had green and one had dark brown, almost black eyes. Two of them had light blonde hair and mischievous blue eyes. The last one had light brown hair and green eyes as well.

"HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU COME TO OLYMPUS WITHOUT AN INVITATION!"

The other gods looked at him as though he was crazy but then their eyes slid along to where he was pointing and in an instance Apollo and Artemis and drawn their bows, Ares conjured a spear, Hades quirked an eyebrow when he saw his son standing there, freed from the Lotus Casino. Zeus raised his lightning bolt to strike them down but stopped in shock. His eyes zoomed onto Thalia.

"Who are you?" He asked "And why are you here?"

The blonde haired girl whispered something to the black haired, green eyed boy. He shook his head "I am not introducing myself first it might start a fight." The girl sighed but nodded.

"Well," she said "my name is Annabeth Chase and I am the daughter of Athena." She bowed and moved back.

The two boys with blonde hair and blue eyes stepped forward. "We are…"

"Conner…"

"And Travis…"

"Stoll…"

"Sons of"

"Hermes" They finished together.

Hermes looked at them proudly.

The brown haired girl pushed them aside. "Oh shut up you two. I am Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter."

The boy with the black hair and brown eyes stepped forward "Nico, son of Hades."

"WHAT!" Zeus thundered. "YOU BROKE THE OATH!"

Hades just smirked at him "I had Nico two years before the oath was made. He was kept in the Lotus Casino all this time. "

Zeus started grumbling in his chair but didn't say anything after that.

The girl with the black hair stepped forward and smiled at everyone "Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus and Lieutenant of Artemis."

Zeus stared at her in shock "But you're a tree… How…"

The boy with the black hair and green eyes smiled "Long story"

This shook Zeus out of his stupor "And who are you exactly?"

The boy smiled shyly and responded "Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon."

If Zeus was mad at Hades it was blown out of the water by his rage at Poseidon. "YOU HAD A CHILD! I CAN NOT BELIEVE THIS HADES AT LEAST HAD AN EXCUSE! YOU HOWEVER DON'T."

Poseidon, like Hades just looked at him calmly. "May I remind you Zeus that you had a daughter a few years before I had a son. You broke the oath first. If anyone should be mad it should be Hades. He is the only one that kept his oath."

Zeus sat down in shock at his brother speaking up to him.

"Okay can we move past that I believe we were sent here to do something." Annabeth said. As she said this a golden light filled the room and from it flew a box of five books. On top of the box lay a letter.

Annabeth picked it up and taking the gods silence as an ok to go ahead began to read. "Dear gods of Olympus and demigods,

These are books detailing the adventures and trials of Perseus Jackson. You may not change anything in the mortal realm but you may change the future relating to what you find in these books. Use this information wisely.

The Fates

"Ok" Annabeth said "Lets start with the first one." She picked up the first book and read the title "'**Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief' **I guess I will read first."

**Chapter 1**

**I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher**

She stopped at the title "Really Percy? Math test are not that bad."

Percy just smiled at her and motioned for her to start reading again.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. **

Nico snorted "Who does?"

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, try to lead a normal life.**

Some of the gods looked offended at that but most nodded in agreement.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets to children painful, nasty ways.**

Nobody was disagreeing now.

**If your normal kid, reading this because you think its fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages – if you feel something stirring inside – stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. Once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you. **

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"You didn't warn me." Nico, Conner, and Travis all said in unison.

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

**I'm 12 years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancey Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**An my troubled kid?**

"Yes" All the half-bloods chorused. Percy pouted at this.

**Yeah. You could say that**

"see" Nico said "You agree with us"

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan – 28 mental case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH" Hermes and Apollo screamed clutching their heads. "Knowledge hurts. So… Boring…"

**I know – it sounds like torture. Most Yancey field trips were.**

Annabeth hit Percy on the arm "It is not!"

**Mr. Bruner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

**Mr. Bruner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. **

"Who do we know like that?" Travis asked sarcastically

**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome question of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

**I hope the trip would be okay. At least I hope that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

Athena snorted and said something about seaweed.

**Boy, was I wrong**

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I was aiming for school bus, but of course I got expelled anyways. And before that, at my fourth grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took on unplanned swim. The time before that… Well, you get the idea.**

"Tell us more, Tell us more, tell us more!" Hermes chanted looking excited

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl,**

At her description Aphrodite began to pretend to throw up

**hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter and ketchup sandwich.**

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth-grader with the activity and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Stupid satyrs" Dionysus muttered

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster threatened with death by in school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"**I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

"No he doesn't he's allergic to peanut butter." Annabeth said glaring at the book as if she could kill Nancy Bobofit with thought.

**He dodged a piece of Nancy's lunch.**

"**That's it." I started to get up, **

"Fight, fight, fight, fight" Ares chanted hoping to see some action for once.

**but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

Ares let out a groan.

"**You're already on probation." He reminded me "you know who will get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I decked Nancy Bobofit is right then and there. In school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

What is he about to get into? Poseidon wondered, feeling worried for his son.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for 2000, 3000 years.**

"Older" Athena and Annabeth whispered

**Together to surround the 13 foot tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a **_**stele**_**, for a girl about our age. He told us that the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say,**

"At least you were trying" Annabeth said.

**because it is kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told him to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was 50 years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker.**

Hades and Nico paled, if that was even possible for them to do that.

**She came to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

"That she probably caused" Nico muttered.

**From the first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Buffett and figured I was double spot. Shoot when a crooked finger and say, "now, honey," real sweet,**

Nico and Hades paled even more. "It's her."they whispered.

**and I knew I was going to get afterschool detention for a month.**

**One time, after she made you erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Somebody needs to teach that satyr how to lie." Dionysus said looking at Travis and Conner.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered some yes I thing about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

Everyone in the room laughed, including Percy.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

"**Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "no, sir."**

Nico looked dramatically at Thalia. "He's being polite… it's… it's… THE APOCALYPSE!" the last part they yelled together and then dissolved into laughter.

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?" **

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flash of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

All the gods shuddered at that memory.

"**Yes," Mr. Bruner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because…"**

"**Well…"I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the King God, and –"**

"God?" Zeus asked fury blooming in his face

"**God?" Mr. Bruner asked.**

"**Titan," I corrected myself. "And… He didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and give Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters –"**

"**Eeew!" Said one of the girls behind me.**

"**-So there's this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"Did he just…?" Hades asked

"Yep" Hermes confirmed "He just summed up the most important war in all of history in three sentences."

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'please explain why Kronos in his kids.'"**

"**And why, Mr. Jackson," Mr. Bruner said, "to paraphrase Ms. Bobfit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?" **

"Busted" Ares said smirking

"**Busted," Grover muttered.**

Ares looked up horrified "I am thinking like a satyr."

"**Shut up," Nancy hissed her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**Ms. Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Bruner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears**

"That have ruined many a pranks." Travis and Conner said mournfully.

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir"**

"**I see." Mr. Bruner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, have been living and growing up completely undigested the Titan stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the underworld. Now on that happy note,**

"That's Chirons form of a happy note?" Hephaestus asked

**it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds would you lead us back outside?"**

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like a doofuses.**

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Bruner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turn towards Mr. Bruner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Bruner had this look that wouldn't let you go – intense brown eyes that could have been 1000 years old and had seen everything.**

"**You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Bruner told me.**

"**About the Titans?"**

"**About real life. And your studies apply to it."**

"The only one in that class it applies to." Katie said.

"**Oh."**

"**What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "what ho!" And challenged us, sword point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshiped. **

"Even I couldn't do that" Athena said.

**Mr. Bruner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I've never made up of a C- my life. No- he didn't expect me to be as good as everybody else; he expected me to be better. I just can't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

**I mumbled something about trying harder, will Mr. Bruner took one long said look at the stele, like he'd been at the school's funeral.**

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue. **

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snowstorms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing. Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school – the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"**Detention?" Grover asked.**

"**Nah" I said. "Not from Bruner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean – I'm not a genius."**

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "can I have your Apple?" **

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watch the stream of cabs good down the Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways up town from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She hugged me and be glad to see me, but she be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancey, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my 6****th**** school in 6 years and I was probably going to get kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that's sad look she'd give me.**

"Awww" all the girls cooed.

**Mr. Bruner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized café table. **

"An accurate description, that's what I used as inspiration" Hephaestus said.

**I was about to my sandwich with Nancy Baba fit. In front of me with her ugly friends– I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists – and dumped her half eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

Aphrodite shrieked and began to curse at the girl in every language she knew. Annabeth and Thalia were shaking in rage at what she did but quickly gained control but were whispering "Going to find her, going to kill her"

"**Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange as if someone had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "count to 10, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming," Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us. **

**Some of the kids were whispering: "did you see –"**

"– **The water –"**

"– **like a grabbed her –"**

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her nutritive museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There's a triumphant fire in her eyes as I done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey –"**

"**I know" I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"NO! Rule number 17: never guess your punishment." Hermes screamed.

**That wasn't the right thing to say." Come with me," Mrs. Dodd said.**

"**Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her"**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death. **

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

"**I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

"**But –"**

"**You – will – stay – here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

"**It's okay, man," I told him, "Thanks for trying."**

"**Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked. **

**I gave her my deluxe I will kill you later stare. **

"Ha" Ares laughed "I bet its not as frightening as mine" As he said this he gave everyone the stink eye. Percy looked up and gave him a look. Ares hid behind his chair.

**And I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there, she was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps gesturing impatiently at me to come on. How did she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot when my brain falls asleep or something and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank space behind it****, and the next thing I know I've missed something is a puzzle piece fillet of the universe and the history of blank place****. The school counselor told me this was apart of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"Nope" Athena said

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Bruner, like he wanted Mr. Bruner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Bruner was absorbed in his novel. **

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall. Okay, I thought. She's going to be with my new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"I doubt she is going to do that Percy" Nico said

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into museum. When I finally caught up to her we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"Well that's a bit creepy" Ares said

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

"Growling?" Poseidon asked looking worriedly.

**Even without the noise I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it…**

"**You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the smart thing. I said, "Yes ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**Look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil. **

**She's a teacher I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

"Don't be so sure about that." Nico said in unison with Hades.

**I said, "I'll – I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

"Well somebody has anger management issues." Artemis said smirking at her father.

"**We're not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It only matters time before we find you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**Think of is that the teachers must've found my illegal stash candy had been sung out of my dorm room. Maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book. **

"And just what does that mean Percy?" Annabeth asked.

Percy ducked his head and tried to avoid being hit.

"**Well?" She demanded.**

"**ma'am, I don't…"**

**Your time is up, "she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into calends. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was for a shriveled hag with bat wings and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

**Then things got even stranger.**

Nico and Thalia burst out laughing "Only you could see your teacher turn into a monster and think things could get weirder."

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

"**What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword- Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. **

"Wimp!" Ares yelled, then he cowed under Percy's glare.

**My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

**She snarled, "Die honey!"**

**And she flew straight at me. **

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"Oh, yeah, That's what is natural for every twelve year old. Sword fighting." Katie said sarcastically.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and pass clean the body is actually made of water. Hisss!**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a powder. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

"Mist" all of the demigods yelled in a singsong voice.

**Mr. Bruner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**Hands were still trembling. Lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside.**

**It started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map mounted over his head. It's about fitness still standing there, so cumbersome in the fountain, grumbling to ugly friends. She saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr with your butt."**

**I said, "Who?"**

"**Our teacher. Duh!"**

**I went. We had no teaching and Mrs. Kerr. Estimates you what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**Ice Grover were Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"**Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious"**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Bruner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he had never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "That would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**And Mr. Bruner his parents. I hadn't even realized it was still holding it.**

"**Sir," I said, "where is Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

"**The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and set forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this field trip. As far as I know, there's never been a Mrs. Dodds in Yancey Academy. Are you feeling all right?" **

"Well that was interesting." Annabeth said. "Who would like to read next"

Athena raised her hand "I will"

Annabeth tossed her the book and she began to read **"Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death"**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Three Old Ladies That the Socks of Death**

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, **

"I would hope so, being near you is a weird experience in itself." Thalia muttered under her breath. Percy looked up and glared at her.

**but usually they were over quickly. This 24/7 hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Karr – a perky blonde woman **

It's always the blonde's fault." Travis said before remembering that he too had blonde hair.

**whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on a bus at the end of the field trip – had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare me like I was psycho.**

"He is." Nico said "They were right"

**He got so I almost believed them – Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost.**

**But Grover couldn't fool me. **

"Connell, Travel," Dionysus said pointing to the two sons of Hermes. "You are going to teach tat satyr how to lie if it's the last thing you do." Travis and Conner nodded enthusiastically at the prospect.

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying. Something was going on. Something had happened at the Museum.**

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

"A fury does tend to do that to you." Katie said

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touchdown only 50 miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events he studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

Zeus and Poesidon looked at each other and said in unison "Wow you really know how to throw a temper tantrum." Then they both glared at the other for what they had said and Athena pressed on.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. **

"So like Nico?" Conner asked.

Nico glared at him and he ran and hid behind his fathers throne and stuck his tongue out at Nico.

**My grades slipped from D's to ask. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends.**

"YES!" Ares shouted doing a fist pump in the air at the mention of fights.

**I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicole, asked me for the millionth time whilst too lazy to study for spelling test, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

Annabeth burst out laughing and whispered in Percy's ear so nobody else could hear her "Dionysus." He nodded in understanding.

**The headmaster said my mom a letter the following the week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Nancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

Athena looked up from the book thoroughly scandalized. "How on earth can you want to leave school that is just horrible." Glaring at Percy still she began to read again.

**I was homesick. **

A slight blush formed on Athena's face as she continued the story slightly embarrassed.

**I wanted to be with my mom and her little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfathers stupid poker parties.**

**And yet… There are things I miss about Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I would miss Grover, he had been a good friend, even if he is a little strange. I was worried about how he'd survive next year without me.**

**I miss Latin class, too – Mr. Bruner's crazy tournament days and his belief that I can do well.**

**As exam week got closer Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Bruner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I've started to believe him.**

"Instinct." The demigods said in unison.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated and through the **_**Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology **_**across my dorm room. **

Athena and Annabeth both shrieked. Annabeth turned to her boyfriend and began hitting him in the arm even though it didn't hurt him, it helped her feel better. "How- _hit- _could- _hit_- you- _hit_- throw- _hit_- a-_ hit_- book-_hit._

Athena looked on approvingly as her daughter continued to beat the son of Poseidon. "Good" she thought "Teach that sea spawn to respect books."

**Words started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There's no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, **

"I bet you can now." Annabeth said finally ceasing her assault on her boyfriends arm.

**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating Latin verbs? Forget it.**

**I paced the room, feeling like ants crawling around inside my shirt.**

**I remembered Mr. Bruner's series expression, the thousand-year-old eyes. **_**I will accept**__**only the best from you, Percy Jackson**_**.**

**I took a deep breath. I picked up my mythology book.**

**I've never asked the teacher for help before. **

"And you wonder why you do so badly?" Athena asked sarcastically

**Maybe if I talked to Mr. Bruner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"Awwwww" all the girls cooed though most sarcastically (Artemis and Thalia included in this)

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them more dark and empty, but Mr. Bruner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Bruner asked question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "… Worried about Percy, Sir."**

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually eavesdropper, **

Travis snorted "Oh of course not. Percy would never eavesdrop." Percy had in fact eavesdropped on Travis once and just so happened to hear him practicing on how to ask Katie out. Percy held it over him to this day though Katie still didn't know.

**but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

**I inched closer.**

"… **Alone the summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly one **

"Ok" Percy asked "Why on earth do we call them the Kindly ones? They are far from kind."

**in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too –"**

"**We would only make matters worse for by rushing him," Mr. Bruner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

"**We may not have time. The summer solstice deadline –"**

"**Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

"**Sir, he saw her…"**

"**His imagination," Mr. Bruner insisted. "The mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince them of that"**

"Not with Grovers lying abilities, or lack of them, it won't." Thalia said smirking

"**Sir, I… I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voices choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

"Oh grover, that was my choice Thalia said, looking at the book in Athena's hands.

"You realize your talking to a book right?" Percy asked grinning at her

"Shut it Kelp Head"

"**You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Bruner said finally. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now it's just worry about keeping Percy life until next fall –"**

"After that he's on his own though. It's only until next fall do we need him alive. After that… well good luck." Nico mocked the book.

"Again, talking to a book." Percy said smirking at both Nico and Thalia.

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Hermes wailed in distress "That's rule number 32: Never give away your position."

Percy looked up at him. "How many rules do you have?"

Hermes responded without even thinking about it "458 and a half"

"And a half?" Annabeth asked

Hermes smiled "It's complicated."

**Mr. Bruner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and back down the hall. It's like a shadow slid across the lighted glass of Mr. Bruner's office door, the shadow something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looks suspiciously like an archers bow.**

**I opened the nearest door and stepped inside.**

"Good" Hermes said "Rule 437: Hide as soon as possible if you break rule 32."

Everyone rolled their eyes at him and Athena continued.

**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, the sound of an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, and then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Bruner spoke. "Nothing." He murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

"**Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn …"**

"**Go back to the dorm," Mr. Bruner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

"**Don't remind me."**

"Okay, Grover has taken these exams like six times, why is he worried?" Katie asked

**The lights went out in Mr. Bruner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he had been there all night.**

"**Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

"**You look awful." **

"Well of course he does." Demeter interrupted "That boy has not had his nightly bowl of cereal yet."

**He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

"**Just… Tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression,**

"Not going to work" Dionysus said

**and started getting ready for bed.**

**I didn't understand what I had heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Bruner were talking about me behind my back. **

"Don't worry, we all do." Conner said

**If I was in some kind of danger.**

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Bruner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

"**Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's… It's for the best."**

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he's speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

**I mumbled, "Okay, Sir."**

"**I mean…" Mr. Bruner will discharge back and forth, like she wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

"So Grover gets lying lessons and Chiron gets lessons on how to be more tactful?" Dionysus asked taking at a pad and pen and writing it down.

**My eyes stung**

**He was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, I was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

"**Right," I said, trembling.**

"**No, no." Mr. Bruner said. "Oh, confounded all. What I'm trying to say... You're not normal, **

"Well he got one thing right" Nico snickered

**Percy. Does nothing to be –"**

"**Thanks," I blurted. "That's a lot, Sir, for reminding me."**

"**Percy –"**

**But I was already gone.**

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase. The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cursing the Caribbean for the month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

Percy saw Zeus drawing a breath to get on to him "Before you say anything. I was living in a small apartment, with a drunken stepfather, no idea who my father was, so from that I was from a family of nobody's.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs are selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I go to school in the fall.**

"**Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to the conversations as if I'd never existed.**

**The only person I dreaded saying goodbye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He booked a ticket to Manhattan on the thing greyhound as I had,**

"Stalker." Conner and Travis whispered to each other.

**so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, if you expect something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there is nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for kindly ones?"**

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha – what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

"No!" Hermes and his kids yelled "You never confess" they continued not even surprised they were speaking as one. "It's rule 394."

"Ok how do you guys know all this?" Percy asked

"Born with it." They answered

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

"**Oh… Not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?"**

**He winced. "Look, Percy… I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers…"**

"Who brought up demon math teachers? Percy didn't." Travis asked.

"**Grover –"**

"**and I was telling Mr. Bruner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because of there is no such person is Mrs. Dodds, and…"**

"**Grover, you're really, really bad liar."**

**His ears turn pink.**

**From his shirt pocket he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? Case you need me this summer."**

**The card was in fancy script, which is murder my dyslexic eyes,**

"Mine to" all the demigods said.

Dionysus just snickered

**I finally made out something like:**

**Grover Underwood**

**Keeper**

**Half Blood Hill**

**Long Island, New York**

**(800) 009 – 0009**

"**What's half –"**

"**Don't set out loud! And quote he helped. "That's my… Summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I've never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

"His family might be rich, but yours literally owns the world. That's nothing to be ashamed of Percy." Katie said smiling at him.

Travis glared at Percy jealously for a second then gained a neutral expression but Hermes and Katie both saw it. Hermes smirked at his son while Katie shot him a confused look.

"**Okay," said glumly, "So, like, I want to come visit your mansion."**

**He nodded. "Or… Or if you need me."**

"**Why would I need you?"**

**It came out harsh and I meant to two.**

**Grover Bush right down to the Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I – I kind of have to protect you." I stared at him.**

**All year long, I got in fights, keeping the bullies away from him. I had lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. Here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

"He did defend you Percy. He defended you from all of those mean enchiladas on enchilada day. Bravely sacrificing himself so you didn't have to eat them." Nico said sarcastically.

"**Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protect me from?"**

**There is a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and went the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. After a few minutes of clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver knows that we all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road – no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. Our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

"Where else would you put a fruit stand?" Apollo asked sarcastically

**The stuff on this sale looked really good: heating boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider and claw-foot tub full of ice. **

"Shut up Athena you're making me hungry." Hermes complained.

**There were no customers, just a real lady sitting in rocking chairs in the street of a maple tree, getting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

**Randy socks with sides of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left and the other lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric blue yarn.**

**All three women looked ancient with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back and white bandannas, bony arm sticking out of bleach cotton dresses.**

**The weirdest thing was, they seem to be looking right at me.**

Athena looked up from the book. "Are they…?"

Percy nodded.

Annabeth looked at him. And then began to try and beat him again.

"YOU SAW THE FATES AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME!"

Percy caught her hands and whispered in her ear. "I am still alive I promise. Those socks were for a hero." He looked at her to see if she got it, she did and stopped abusing him.

**I looked over at Grover to say something and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

"**Grover?" I said. "Hey, man –"**

"**Tell me to not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

"**Yeah. Weird, huh? You think the Socks would fit me?"**

"**Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors – gold and silver, long bladed, shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

"**Working on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

"**What?" I said. "It's 1000° in there."**

"**Come on!" He pried open the doors and climbed inside, but I stay back**

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be four – Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

"Sasquatch, definitely , sasquatch." Nico said with a staraight face.

Travis smirked at him and developed a serious face as well "I must say I dis agree with you old chap." He said in a terrible impression of a British gentleman. "They most certainly belong to Godzilla, the width is all wrong for a sasquatch's feet."

The looked at each other seriously for a moment and everyone burst out laughing. Katie laughed so hard she had to lean against Travis so she didn't fall over. Travis blushed and ducked his head slightly.

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuttered and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

"**Darn right!" Yelled the driver. He's up the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd come down with the flu.**

"**What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see the fruit stand?"**

"**You mean the ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like… Mrs. Dodds are they?"**

"Not quite the same thing." Nico said with a smirk.

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

"**The middle one took out scissors, and cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost – older.**

"Wow." Zeus said "That was almost perceptive."

**He said, "you saw her snip the cord?"**

"**Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

"**This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

"**What last time?"**

"**Always sixth-grade. They never get past sixth-grade."**

"**Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

"**Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

"**Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

"**Grover – that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean something is going to die?"**

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already taking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin. **

"I don't really care to be honest. I am not partially towards any kind." Percy said with a smirk.

Athena sighed and said. I believe we should take a break for lunch and begin again after we are done. The gods will eat in here the demigods will eat in a dining hall. Goodbye." With that she snapped her fingers and the demigods were all in a massive hall with a huge table that stretched the length, piled with food of every kind. They all smiled and began to eat.

**AN) **Hello people it is good to talk to you again. I finally got this chapter in. I would like to thank Tweets N Sweets, KaggyAlucardSesh, allen r, TrueColorsNeverFade, and EnvyNV for reviewing on my last chapter. I focused more on Katie and Travis in this chapter just because, besides Percabeth and Thalia and Nico they are my favorite pairing so you will see all of those pairings come out in this story. Next chapter will be shorter. It will just be lunch and what happens there. Thanks for reading. If you liked it, review. If you hated it, review. If you have a request, review. Thanks bye.


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